Bottle supporting bracket



Oct. 31, 1950. F. L. CLUTE v 2,527,796

' BOTTLE SUPPORTING BRACKET T I Filed Nov. 6, 1946 mil -3 -"T' IIIIIIHIIHIHIIllllllis TaillllllllllllllllllljlI IIHIIIIIHHH 1 THIIIIHIIIIIIIIW IN V EN TOR.

FOSTER CLUTE BY ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 31, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE BOTTLE SUPPORTING BRACKET Foster L. Clute, San Francisco, Calif.

. Application November 6, 1946, Serial No. 708,061

Claims. 1 7 An object of my invention is to provide a bottle supporting bracket which is especially designed to support champagne bottles and the like in an inclined inverted position so that the liquid contents in the bottles will keep the corks-from drying out. The present practice is to place the champagne bottles on a shelf with the necks of the bottles facing toward the'front of the shelf, the bottoms of the bottlesbeingelevated so that the liquid contents will keep-the corks moistened at all times. The bottles are usually arranged in parallel relation and this permits only a relatively few bottles to be supported on a shelf that has a length from front to back substantially equal to the height of the bottles.

The principal object of .my invention is to provide a bottle supporting bracket which may be quickly attached to a shelf and will hold the bottles in an inverted inclined position, the axes of the bottles lying in parallel planes that-extend in the same direction as the length'of the shelf. This arrangement permits a larger number of bottles to be supported by the shelf than would otherwise be possible because the bottles are partially nested. 1

The bottle supporting bracket has novel means for engaging with the neck of the bottle for holding it in contact with the shelf. At least two brackets are used, one holding the bottle top in.

contact with the shelf as just stated and the other supporting the bottom portion of the bottle in a raised position above the shelf. It is possibleto space the two or more bottle supporting brackets the desired distance apart for holding the bottles at the desired inclined angle so that the entire length of the shelf will be'utilized to support the largest number of bottles.

The bottle supporting. bracket is extremely simple in construction and in one form of the invention the portion of the bracket contacting with the body of the bottle is pivotally mounted so that the portion will accommodate itself to the curvature of the bottle regardless of the angle at which the bottle is inclined.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification; and the novelfeatures of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application,

in which: H

Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a shelf showing a pluralit of my bottle supporting brackets secured thereto;

Figure 2 is aperspective view of the bracket illustrated in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of bracket w While I have shown only the preferred forms of my invention, .it should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In carrying out my invention, I make use of a shelf indicated generally at A. On the shelf I mount a plurality of my bottle supporting brackets of the type shown at B in Figure 2. I will first describe how the bracket is constructed and then will set forth how the bracket supports the champagne or other bottles.

Referring to Figure 2, it will be seen that I provide the bracket B with two spaced uprights I and 2, these being made of a heavy gage wire if desired. Both uprights l and 2 have foot portions 3 and 4 that are bent at right anglesto the upright and are provided with screw receiving eyelets 5 and 6, respectively.

The upper ends of the uprights are interconnected by a transversely extending bottle supporting wire I that has two or more downwardly looped portions 8 or arcuate portions formed therein. It is possible to provide a single loop portion between the uprights if desired. The ends of the wire 1 are secured to the tops of the uprights by soldering or spot welding, such as indicated at 9 and It]. It is possible to form the uprights I and 2 and the transverse wire 1 out of a single piece of wire bent in the manner shown, but I have found that a smaller gage wire 1 can be used if the uprights are not formed from it.

' wire I2 has two smaller loops l3 or arcuate portions formed therein and the ends of the wire are rigidly secured to the uprights l and 2 at l4 and I5, respectively. The plane of the loops [3 extend parallel to the plane of the shelf A when the bracket is secured to the shelf, while the planes of the loops 8 extend vertically to the shelf plane. The loops I3 are made large enough to engage with the tops l6 of the bottles as shown in Figure 1.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

I show three of the brackets B secured to the shelf A at equal distances from each other.

Screws IT, or other suitable fastening means, are used for supporting the brackets in vertical position. The length of the shelf A determines the distance at which the brackets B are to be spaced from each other. The planes of the brackets that extend through the uprights I and 2 extend at right angles to the front edge I8 of the shelf.

After the brackets are secured in place, the bottles C are placed in the brackets so that the bottle heads I 6 will contact with the loops l3 and with the upper shelf surface, while the body portions of the bottles will be received in the loops 8 of the adjacent brackets. In the bottling of champagne, the corks are moistened and after being placed in the filled bottles, are anchored against accidental removal by wires not shown which are wrapped around the corks and around the necks of the bottles. The wires and corks are then covered with foil indicated generally at 19. It is necessary that the corks be kept moist at all times, and therefore the bottles must be maintained in an inverted position.

7 With my bracket, the inclination of the bottles can be varied within limits and the angle of inclination is. determined by the length of the shelf. In the showing of Figure l, the depth of the shelf is such as to receive brackets having two loop portions 8 and 13. It is possible to decrease or increase the number of loops, depending upon the depth of the shelf. Sufficient space is provided between the bottles supported by adjacent brackets to permit them to be removed as desired, and new ones placed in position. The bottles are neatly arranged and the shelf will hold about twice as many when using my brackets as could otherwise be supported.

In Figure 3, I show a slightly modified form of the invention. The bracket B shown in this figure has uprights 2B and 2i made of strip metal. The uprights have bent portions 22 and 23 forming bracket supporting feet and these portions have screw receiving openings 24 therein.

At the top of the bracket I swingably mount a transversely extending wire 25 that has two loop or arcuate portions 26 therein. The ends 21 of the wire are rotatably received in openings '28 provided in the tops of the uprights 29 and 2 l. The portions of the'ends 2'5 projecting through the openings may be upset or enlarged so they will not become accidentally disconnected from the uprights.

I still use the fixed transverse wire l2 at the base of the uprights and this wire has the arcuate portions H3. The ends i4 and I of the wire are rigidly secured to the uprights 28 and El so that rotation of the wire I2 is impossible and the planes of the loops [3 will therefore extend parallel to the upper shelf surface.

When using this type of bracket, the loops (3 receive the heads N5 of the bottles and the bottle heads will also contact with the upper shelf surface. The loops 26 will receive the bodies ll of the bottles and will rotate in the uprights 2i! and 2| so that the planes of the loops 26 will extend at right angles to the axes of the bottles. It will be seen from this that when the brackets B are placed closer together on the shelf, the inclination of the bottles will be steeper and the loop portions 26 will swing to a greater extent so that the planes of the loops will still extend at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the bottles.

The number of bottles supported by the shelf can be altered according to the spacing between the brackets.

I claim:

1. A bottle supporting bracket comprising a frame adapted to rest on a supporting surface, means carried by the top portion of the frame for supporting the body portion of one or more bottles in an inverted and inclined position, and

means on the lower portion of the frame spaced below said top means for contacting with the tops of another set of inverted bottles that rest on the supporting surface.

2. In combination, a supporting surface, a plurality of brackets secured to the surface and spaced from each other the desired distance apart, each bracket having means disposed near the lower portion of the bracket for contacting with the top of one or more inverted bottles, and each bracket having means disposed near the top portion of the bracket for supporting the body of the one or more bottles whose tops contact with said first-named means in the adjacent bracket, whereby the bottles are supported in an inverted and inclined position.

3. A bottle supporting bracket comprisin a pair of uprights securable to a supporting surface, a transversely extending bar carried by the upper ends of the uprights and having larger looped portions for receiving the body portions of bottles, and a second transversely extending bar connected to the lower portions of the uprights and having smaller looped portions for engaging with bottle tops when the latter rest on the supporting surface.

4. A bottle supporting bracket comprising a pair of uprights securable to a supporting surface, a transversely extending bar carried by the upper ends of the uprights and having larger looped portions for receiving the body portions of bottles, and a second transversely extending bar connected to the lower portions of the uprights and having smaller looped portions for engaging with bottle tops when the latter rest on the supporting surface, the first-named bar being rotatably secured to the uprights so that the looped portions can swing and accommodate themselves to the body portions of the bottles regardless of the inclination of the latter.

5. A bottle-supporting bracket comprising a pair of uprights securable to a supporting surface and being spaced from each other, an upper transversely-extending bar having its ends carried by the uprights at points adjacent to the upper ends of the latter, the bar having large arcuate portions whose planes coincide and extend at right angles to the supporting surface, and a lower transversely-extending bar having its ends carried by the uprights at points adjacent to the lower ends of the latter, the lower bar having small arcuate portions whose planes coincide and extend parallel with the supporting surface.

FOSTER L. CLUTE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 30,331 Walker Mar. 14, 1899 85,208 Burrow Dec. 22, 1868 1,597,548 Sharp Aug. 24, 1926 1,879,937 Kneeland Sept. 27, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 197,648 Great Britain Aug. 2, 1923 

